Falling Skies
by PetroBeherha
Summary: Equestria was preparing for a grand celebration, when mysterious, dangerous aliens threaten to control the world and destroy Equestria. It falls to Twilight and her friends (and Spike) to halt the invasion, confront their leader, find the reason for the attack, and ultimately discover the true purpose of friendship. Contains some original content. Chapter 3 currently in progress...
1. Dreaming

_Important Note: __This story takes place between "_A Canterlot Wedding_" and "_The Crystal Empire_"._

* * *

**Part I - Two Worlds**

* * *

**Chapter 1 - Dreaming  
**

**A** fiery-red sky, and a vast sunset cast shadows on tall, dizzying rectangular structures ringed with rows of lights. Twilight Sparkle found herself standing on the tallest of these structures, which felt unnaturally cold and hard on her hooves. She found herself face-to-face with a massive monster... thing; its small but brightly glowing eyes stared at her, shining like a pair of flashlights. In spite of the glow, the monster itself appeared black; a silhouette cast from the sunset. From what she could tell, it was massive, but it has a squat and bulky appearance with no distinct legs.

She didn't even know what she was doing or why. She couldn't make out the scene around her, as everything was so alien to her. But she felt as if she were defending her land from it after all it has done to it. She looked side-to-side to see her friends, up on their hooves and poised to strike. Knowing this, she joined in with them, and then they made their move by floating up in a geometric formation. A great surge of power came through them, one that felt very familiar like it was part of their very being. It grew stronger and more intense as they collect it There was no telling what disastrous attack it would make, or if they would live or die, but it was anything to protect the world by defeating it!

* * *

Twilight opened her eyes to find herself on her side in bed, inside her own room. It was morning, and strong, warm sunlight shone through the window. She looked around still shaken by the dream. It felt so intense, so alive, so unlike any other normal dream she had that it would've been something else. But of course, dreams are dreams, and anything can happen in them, even if they wouldn't make sense to common reality. Being a unicorn pony possessing the Element of Magic did have its strange set of quirks, but in that case, she would tell Princess Celestia about it. Perhaps she knows what to do about it. So, with a yawn and a stretch, she got out of bed and looked over herself in the mirror. Her hair was untidy from tossing and turning, so she used her magic on her hairbrush and she set it right.

But before she could go downstairs, a huge shadow zoomed silently across the window and filled the room, and then disappeared. Curious, Twilight looked, but she only found the tree branch that was part of the library. Could that have been Rainbow Dash? The pegasus was notorious her habit of barging in unannounced. Annoyed by the possibility, Twilight stick herself out the window and looked thoroughly for Rainbow Dash or some other flying creature, but found nothing. It bewildered her at first, with such a large-looking creature passing by without a sound. But soon, she shrugged it off saying perhaps it was a bird or pegasus pony flying overhead, especially during the summer when activity in Ponyville was at its height.

As Twilight headed downstairs, Spike greeted "Hey, Twilight!" He was busy dusting the shelves. Twilight yawned and stretched as she said, "Good morning, Spike."

"You slept in a little, so I spent my time to do some dusting for you."

"Oh, thanks Spike. I really appreciate it. Uhh…" She collected her thoughts about the dream. Is it worth telling Spike about it? What would he think about it? She needed to tell him something. She sighed and said, "I-I want to write something to Princess Celestia today."

"Huh?" Spike was a little surprised to hear that, for she usually does this each time she learns something important about friendship, at roughly once a week. But since the start of the season, things have gone along fine and, as a result, no friendship letter was written. To have her write one so early in the morning - a time she would not have learned anything at all yet - was news to him. "Why? Is there something important? You haven't learned anything, yet. Have you?"

"No," The unicorn answered, "It's not a friendship letter. It's just something that… uhh…" She wanted to write to Princess Celestia about the dream, but she wondered if it was really just some ordinary dream, or a vision, or anything like that. She didn't want to waste her time reporting about some natural occurrence, but having recalled how it felt, giant monsters and all. So Twilight decided that perhaps she should take her chances, just in case. Perhaps the Princess can tell her about its true nature. So she continued, "I had a crazy dream".

"A dream?" Spike was growing more curious, "What's it about? Was it about zombie diamond dogs trying to bite you as they spread the infection?!" Spike scared himself with the thought.

"No, Spike," Twilight answered with an agitated sigh, remembering how they've gone through this some time ago, "It's not like that! It's where…" She thought about trying to describe the dream to Spike, but she didn't feel she had the time, so she continued "You know what? Why don't I tell you as I write the letter, okay Spike?"

"Okay," Spike exclaimed with an eager nod!

Twilight slipped out a sheet of parchment and readied her quill when she arrived at the table. She spoke aloud as she wrote the following:

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_Just this morning, I had a dream that I thought you should know about. It's where I was in this strange place where there are these huge, tall structures that cover the entire landscape. There were no trees or mountains, just the shapes. In fact, I stood on the tallest one of them all. I found myself with my friends confronting a huge monster that was trying to kill us; I never saw anything like it before! It had eyes that glow like street lights, and strange arms that have no hands! I felt that we had to defeat it before it does something horrible! So we used great powers to destroy it once and for all! And that was when I woke up._

_I don't know if it's one of those dreams people have all the time, but I write this to you because it felt so odd, so deep that I wondered if it was something important. So I will let you be the judge and see if there is something special about it that we should be aware of._

_Your Faithful Student,_

_Twilight Sparkle_

After finishing the letter, Twilight rolled up the paper and gave it to Spike.

"After you", she said.

"My pleasure!"

Spike took a breath, and then breathed green fire at it, burning it and sending it to the Princess. Not long after did he let out a sudden belch of the green flame, which quickly manifested into another roll of paper. It must be from the Princess! Twilight magically took the paper and unrolled it. She read aloud:

_My Faithful Student,_

_The dream you told me about sounds very interesting! The surge of energy you described sounded a lot like when you were using the Elements of Harmony. I am confident you and your friends will handle off a monster like that, like you have with Discord, and I am confident you will do the same again. But maybe your mind was just figuring out all the events you've gone through; you've gotten into all sorts of scrapes! So please, try not to focus too much of your attention on it, it'll hurt your head! Why don't you keep it at the back of your mind as you continue on your studies? Who knows? It could happen!_

_Your Mentor,_

_Princess Celestia_

"The Elements of Harmony?" Twilight pondered the similarities between the events with Discord, and those of the dream, "Could it be that we're dealing with another threat at some point?"

"Maybe", Spike pondered, "But I'm pretty sure that you can just beat'em up, just as always!" He emphasized it with a fist to his palm.

Aside from Discord, Twilight Sparkle recalled the earlier incident with Nightmare Moon, a corrupt version of Princess Luna who was banished to the moon one thousand years ago. At both times, she and her friends used the Elements of Harmony against them to restore Equestria from their influence. But now with the dream in mind, she wondered if this were a third kind of threat where they would have to use it again. But once again, dreams are dreams, and they could not be relied on at all.

Twilight chuckled again and said, "Well, Spike. I don't know if this were real or not, but it's like what the princess said, we should keep it at the back of our heads. We'll see what happens."

"Okay, Twilight."

Twilight went on to Suddenly, Spike realized something. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "I-I didn't make your breakfast! What would you like? Omelets? Pancakes? Hash browns?"

"Spike, you don't have worry about that today."

But then Twilight's stomach growled in hunger. Perhaps that's what she got for sleeping in. Spike chuckled, "Looks like your stomach doesn't agree with you!"

Twilight sighed again, but then again, she could use something delicious to eat.

"Alright, Spike." She considered the options. "Some pancakes will do, Spike. Blueberries."

"Sounds good!" Spike immediately rushed off to do cooking! Once he was done, Twilight went to the table and ate her breakfast. After she was done eating, Spike took the dishes and cleaned them. Now, Twilight can do what she was going to do: simply head outside and find something to do. But before she could open the door, she called as she turned, "Hey Spike, aren't you coming with?"

"What? Oh, no thanks. I gotta take care of Peewee."

The unicorn raised an eyebrow, "Peewee?"

A tiny, gold-plummed chick hovered down on Twilight's head, feeling its stubby talons grasp her scalp.

"Peep!"

Twilight sighed again, knowing that she would have to go alone this time. Spike popped out of the kitchen, "C'mon, Peewee." He whistled, and Peewee fluttered its tiny wings towards the child dragon. Concerned that Spike and Peewee would unwittingly make a mess in the library, Twilight prompted, "Well, make sure that you don't play too rough. Okay? The last thing I want is to have any mess in the library. I'll be back in a few hours."

"Yes, ma'am!" Spike saluted.

"Okay," the unicorn assured herself as she opened the door.


	2. An Odd Discovery, & the Anniversary

**Chapter 2 - An Odd Mystery, and the Anniversary**

**T**wilight Sparkle went out the door by herself, but after she closed it behind her, she felt her front hoof bump on to something. Then, she looked down and saw a newspaper on the welcome mat. It was an issue from the Ponyville Express. Normally, she doesn't subscribe to the rather drab newspaper, but what was curious about it was on the front page; it was up-to-date from the Canterlot Observatory. She picked it up and read quietly aloud:

**The Ponyville Express**

**_Unknown Object Discovered? Experts Bewildered!_**

_June 14, 1001 ANN_

_Five days ago, Dr. Stargazer, from the Canterlot Observatory, discovered a needle-shaped object found in near-Equestria orbit. However, _how_ it appeared was even stranger. Dr. Stargazer described that toward the area it was found, there were only the stars. A few seconds later, however, she, in an interview taken yesterday, said to have seen "a strange pool of light come out of nowhere. When it__ disappeared, there it was [the needle]! It looked like it came out of a portal!" Armed with the latest in Equestrian technology, she took photographs of the object, using a camera embedded in her telescope itself, to prove to others that it existed. She took several more pictures to strengthen her credibility. Here are two of her photos, lain side-by-side for comparison (right)._

Twilight looked at the two photos on the front page. They were black-and-white and grainy with pixels, with glowing stars against the black background. Circled at the bottom-right corner of each picture were different versions of the alleged object, which was colored white. Indeed, it was shaped like a needle, hich also had an artificial appearance. What intrigued Twilight even more was a faint impression of a light on its "rear end". Perhaps it was from a star hidden by the object, she thought at first. However, when she looked at the right, the object moved slightly "forward" toward the top-left corner, but the rear light was still there, as if it were part of the object. Each photo also sported the dates and times taken on the bottom-left; she saw they were taken five days before the article date just as it said; they were taken at roughly fifteen seconds apart. Twilight continued reading:

_The next day, Stargazer sent the photos to a group of analysts, who concluded that the photos were either cleverly made fraud or a simple technological error. Stargazer and her crew denied this, insisting that technological errors do not move on their own in a slow fashion. Others simply could not identify the object or its nature, but it was definitely not a star or an asteroid (the latter would come close, but asteroid normally do not have such a bizarre shape). The day after, Stargazer looked in her telescope to find the object again, and it was still there, but at a different place in the sky. It appeared as if it were in orbit around the world, much like the Moon. When she looked one last time last night, the object was gone._

_So far, research is still being conducted about what the object was and how and why it came._

"Hmm." Twilight closed the newspaper and put it in her hip sack, where she normally kept her books. Twilight felt delighted to see a new opportunity to give to the community. Then she decided to seize it and learn something, perhaps even more things to write about the Princess. So she went into the streets. As she was trekking, she tried to decide on how she could learn more about this object. But she had more strange feelings. First, there was the dream she had earlier, and then there was the mysterious object orbiting around this planet. Could this be just a coincidence, or could there be a-?

"Hi, there!"

Twilight yelped at the squeaky female voice and flash of pink as she trampled into a bush behind her! Annoyed by the sudden intrusion, she lifted her head to look who it was. It was Pinkie Pie.

"Oh, it was you." Twilight sighed scornfully. Pinkie Pie hopped as joyfully as ever toward her, and then gave her an inquisitive look.

"Hey, haven't you heard?" Pinkie asked.

"About what? I really don't have time for this!" Twilight was feeling rushed.

"You know, the celebration!"

"What kind? You hold many celebrations, Pinkie. What makes this one so special?"

"Why, it's the Anniversary, silly!"

"Anniversary?" Twilight raised an eyebrow. At first, she did not understand what Pinkie meant, but as she tried to figure it out, she noted that it was summer. Since an anniversary is like a birthday for a person or event, she traced back to the last summer. It was at that time she remembered something!

"Wait!" Twilight continued, "Are you talking about the... ?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie nodded.

Twilight gasped! "Is it the anniversary of the day we defeated Nightmare Moon?!"

Twilight remembered that just after she and her comrades used the Elements of Harmony to destroy the Nightmare Moon form of Princess Luna, she and her sister, Princess Celestia, united once again after 1000 years. According to legend, Princesses Celestia and Luna ruled Equestria much like today, representing day and night, respectively. However, as the resident ponies were awake during the day and "shunned" the night, Princess Luna grew bitter and transformed into Nightmare Moon, and attempted to create "night eternal". To stop this, Princess Celestia banished her in the moon, creating a dark profile of the corrupted princess. This print was later known as "the Mare on the Moon".

It had been almost one year since this happened, and now all of Equestria is celebrating the return of the old order, perhaps by when the Summer Sun Celebration should have been held.

"Then what are you doing here?" Twilight asked.

"I'm going to visit Applejack to collect flour and apples for the cake, lots and lots of them!" Pinkie Pie replied.

Twilight decided to seize this opportunity by helping her out. Besides, she had spent some time in the library for some time, so she asked, "May I join you?"

"Of course!" Pinkie Pie jumped for joy at the offer!

"Thanks, Pinkie."

"Okie-dokie!"

And so the two mares trotted along the road outside of town and took the path leading to Sweet Apple Acres.

* * *

After about a short hour of walking, they arrived Sweet Apple Acres, which was composed of a huge barn-like house with the apple orchards, as well as gardens of corn and carrots.

"But it's true, sis! I saw it!" A familiar, child-like female voice said. Twilight looked towards the source; it was Apple Bloom, who was confronting her older sister, Applejack. Apple Bloom went on, "I saw it with mah own eyes!"

"That's enough o' yer stories!" Applejack concluded, "Besides, we've got work to do, if we're gonna make this Anniversary happenin'!"

Apple Bloom groaned.

Twilight went over to Applejack to see what was going on. Pinkie Pie followed.

"Hey Applejack." Twilight greeted.

"Oh! Hey, Twi." Applejack responded as she turned, "I didn't see ya there!"

"What's all the fuss about?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, Apple Bloom here was tellin' me all o' them stories about some flying thing she saw."

"Oh, Twi!" Apple Bloom went to Twilight, "You are a smart girl, maybe _you'll_ believe me!"

_This is getting interesting_, Twilight thought, _First, there is this object in space, and now this "flying thing". There seems to be some connection, here._

"You know," Twilight spoke to Apple Bloom.

"No, nuh-uh!" Applejack objected, "I don't want to hear no more about it!"

"Oh, c'mon, Applejack. Just give your little sister a chance." Twilight responded.

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie said, "And we need all the apples we can get for the Anniversary! Mr. and Mrs. Cake are gonna make this huge, huge cake and we'll need a lot of apples and flour in order to make it!"

"Say what now?" Applejack quered as she turned to Pinkie. At first she did not understand as she was too caught up with her little sister's business. But when she figured out about the anniversary, Applejack blurted in realization, "Oh, right, that! Alrighty then!"

Applejack tilted her hat, "Let's get to it, then!"

Pinkie Pie cheered and jumped for joy as usual, and she and Applejack went over to the apple orchard. But Pinkie noticed that Twilight was not with her.

"Hey, Twilight!" She asked as she turned around, "Aren't you coming with? You said you were gonna help us!"

"Oh! I'm just gonna talk to Apple Bloom, Pinkie. I'll be with you in a minute."

"Pinkie Pie promise?" Pinkie crossed her hooves to prompt Twilight.

"Pinkie Pie promise," she hastily returned the gesture.

"Okie dokie!" Pinkie Pie leaped as she followed Applejack.

With the two girls out of the way, Twilight Sparkle turned to the filly with a smile. "Okay, Apple Bloom, what d'ya got?"

Apple Bloom began her story, "It was after Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and I were tryin' to get our cutie marks trying to help people rebuild that skyscraper! Ye know, the one that fell down a while ago with that Mare Do-Well? Well, we were trying to help fix it, and we did pretty well, too. But then, Scootaloo messed it all up and it fell down again! We were glad we survived! We were bummed out about not getting our cutie mark, especially after what happened. So, at night, I was on mah way home, when I heard this weird noise that was comin' from the orchard. It sounded like this: 'WO-woo WO-woo WO-woo WO-woo!' So I went there and I saw where it was comin' from! There was this shiny metal thing that was floating above the ground, and it was about as big as I am. I called out to it 'Hey! Mah name's Apple Bloom! What's your name?' But as I came closer, _whoosh!_ It flew away! I swear that thing could challenge Rainbow Dash to a race, 'cause it was darn fast!"

Twilight noticed something peculiar in Apple Bloom's story. First, there was the dream, then the object from space, and now this "shiny metal thing" that Apple Bloom mentioned. The story itself sounded rather bizzare, too. Then she began to suspect something.

"What was it shaped like?" Twilight asked.

"I don' know, it was pretty dark, but it definitely looked like it has wings that were really stiff and pointy. And I can tell it was made o' metal."

Twilight pictured a bird made of metal, but it was nothing like the needle object mentioned in the paper. Maybe it was a hoax, perhaps a rare type of bird with razor-sharp wings. And the sound she described might be a sort of mating call. Many odd – and sometimes magical – creatures come from the Everfree Forest, and perhaps Apple Bloom came to face one on her way home.

"Maybe it was a type of rare bird you saw from the forest. You should be fascinated to have met one of-"

"_It wasn't a bird!_" Apple Bloom burst, "It didn't flap its wings and it didn't have any feet! It looked like one, but it wasn't!"

Twilight flinched from the outburst, and then raised an eyebrow, "You mean it just floated in place?"

"Yeah! And I didn't see any eyes, either."

_So, a stiff-winged, eyeless, metal bird thing that floats in midair._ Twilight thought, _this sounds strange, wasn't she just making up stories? Children tend to have an underdeveloped ability to discriminate fact from imagination. But then again, she said to have seen it last night, and the needle object was reported to have disappeared at the same time. Is it just an amazing coincidence? But I'm gonna have to help Pinkie and the Apple family help out, so I'll have to make sense of this later._

"Well, this is very interesting, Apple Bloom." Twilight concluded, "What you've described was very strange, I'll have to look this over some time. But for now, let's focus on helping your sister. Okay?"

"Alright, Twi."

So Twilight and Apple Bloom cantered together to find the others and help pick the apples.

* * *

Three hours later, Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack returned to Ponyville. Applejack pulled a good-sized cart of apples of many types. The other two mares trotted alongside her.

"Wee-hoo!" Applejack cheered! "That was sure darn fantastic! Who woulda known that cake would be so darn big."

"Yup," Twilight commented nervously, "The princess does like big things. He-heh."

"Yeah," Pinkie Pie replied, "That's why we need so many apples! It took me a while to knock down those trees! I mean, they keep falling out of the baskets and I had to put them all back in. And then Applejack taught me how the apples get bruised when they hit the ground if I'm not careful and…"

Twilight drifted her attention off Pinkie Pie's chatter when she heard a distinct jet-like whooshing sound in the distance. Her right ear perked up as it got rapidly louder and more intense. It must be the-!

"_Look out!_" Twilight gasped, and hastily used her magic to push the other two ponies out of the way, and then took cover!

Pinkie and Applejack yelped from getting tossed over by Twilight's magic, and Applejack's cart tumbled over, spilling the apples all over the road! The source of the sound slammed closer toward them, and then…

…it stopped.

Twilight crouched and covered her head with her hooves when the jet-sound stopped near her, which turned into an obnoxious and almost recognizable laughter. It was Rainbow Dash.

Twilight uncovered herself to turn around, and then saw her roll on the ground laughing.

"Oh, you should be more careful! You could spill something!" Rainbow Dash laughed.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie recovered to see the mess on the street, Rainbow Dash in the middle of it, and Twilight on the other side. The apple mess especially outraged Applejack.

"What in tarnation is the problem here?!" Applejack exclaimed, "And just _look_ at all them apples!"

Twilight looked to discover a wide and pile of bruised and tumbled apples from the apple cart, which squished some of them into pulp when it was knocked over; nearly three hours of hard work have gone to waste.

"Oh no…" Twilight's eye's widened in horror.

"We've worked for three straight hours and now look at 'em! They've all been bruised, mushed, and filthy from the road! And now we'll have to do it all over again! What in tarnation were ya thinkin' Twi?!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie agreed, "Now we'll have to wait longer for that cake!"

Twilight was beginning to feel overwhelmed. "I'm sorry, girls! I-I just thought, I got-" Twilight stammered when Rainbow Dash interrupted "Pft! Relax! We've got all week. We'll just grab more some more apples and we'll be all set!"

"Are ye outta yer mind?" Applejack rebuked to Rainbow Dash, "Those apples don' just grow on a single day! We've been workin' fer hours to get as many apples as we could! But now they're all dirty!"

"Oh what are you whining about?" Rainbow Dash walked to one of the apples and grabbed it. She spat on it and rubbed it, "I'm sure we'll just clean them up and we'll be all set."

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight intervened, "Those apples need to be perfect for the cake for the Anniversary! They're for Princess Celestia and Luna!"

"Oh... right," Rainbow Dash reacted with private embarrassment as she realized this. But then Twilight thought about how it was _she_ who tossed over the ponies in reaction to Rainbow Dash, causing the cart to toss over and spill the apples.

"Actually, Rainbow, that was _my_ fault." Twilight admitted, "I spilled the apples, I thought you were... um..."

"Aww, don't sweat it, Twi!" Rainbow Dash put her hoof on her shoulder. "I'm sure you didn't mean it, right?"

"Yeah, you're right."

Then she thought about Rainbow Dash as she saw her in the clouds before.

"And I was wondering, Rainbow Dash," She added curiously, "just what were you doing up there?"

"Are you kidding?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "I was practicing for the holiday! The Princess asked me that I could use the Sonic Rainboom while the Wonderbolts are performing!"

"Oh, yeah. Then why did you rush over to us?"

"I saw you girls with that cart of apples, and thought I'd take a break and hang out."

"Well," Applejack entered, "Ain't ya gonna _help_ out? Ya know, clean up this mess?"

"Well, I don't know." Rainbow Dash answered doubtfully, "I was kinda practicing right now, so maybe not now."

Twilight decided to make up for her mistake, now that Applejack brought it up.

So she announced, "I'll clean it, Applejack."

"Outstandin'!" Applejack cheered, "Now let's get to workin'!"

"What?" Pinkie Pie objected, "But we just finished!"

"We need to clean'em up." Applejack remarked, "We'll just pick up all the apples that're still intact, and then put'em back in that cart. We'll leave out all the ones that've been mushed, and when we get back, we'll take some time to get the bad ones out and the good ones in. Ya got that?"

"Okie-dokie!" Pinkie Pie hopped.

"Good! But first, let me upright that cart." Twilight used her magic to set the tumbled cart on its wheels, though the pulp from some of the apples still stuck on its ridges. She turned to Rainbow Dash.

"You can get back to your practice, Rainbow Dash. We'll take it from here."

"Well, alright." Rainbow Dash replied, "I'll catch you guys later."

So, Rainbow Dash zoomed back over toward the sky where she came. While they did spend three hard hours collecting all the apples back at the orchard, simply picking them up and rejecting the bad ones did not take as much work. Twilight was conscious of Ponyville's traditional restriction of magic, so she only used her magic to pick up one apple at a time than all at once. After about half an hour, the street was clear of the apples, and the mush put in a nearby trash bin. The three mares relieved themselves after finishing all that work.

"Now all the ponies can pass through." Twilight commented.

"True that," Applejack answered, then she turned to Pinkie Pie. "Now, whad'ya say we head to Sugar Cube Corner!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie cheered as usual, "Then we'll make that cake!"

When Twilight thought about how long she was gone from the library, it came to her that Spike was with his new baby phoenix, Peewee, who could be causing a great mess in there. It had been some _four hours_ since she was away, which made her concerned about the integrity of her library.

"Hey Twilight!" Pinkie Pie asked, "Aren't you coming?"

"No," Twilight responded, "You girls go ahead. I'll head over to the library to check on Spike."

"Okie-dokie!"

"Well," Applejack said as she set up her cart, "In that case, I'll see ya around, Twi. Thanks fer helpin' out."

"It's no problem at all." Twilight returned modestly, and then added privately, _maybe except for that bucking part_.

When Twilight bid them farewell, Applejack and Pinkie Pie made their way to Sugar Cube Corner. With that said and done, she went on to return to the library.

* * *

As Twilight Sparkle was on her way to the library, an older female voice called out her name.

"Twilight!"

She turned to find that it was Mayor Mare coming towards her.

"Mayor Mare!" Twilight called when the Mayor stopped in front of her, panting a little.

"It is an honor to see you! Have you heard about the Anniversary of Reunion yet?" The Mayor asked.

"I... have," Twilight replied, "But is there more I need to know?"

"Well, I don't know how much you've heard about it, but it celebrates the Princesses' reunion since the last millennium. I'm sure you remember the Summer Sun Celebration last year, correct?"

"Yes." Twilight answered.

"Well, now that her sister is back, Princess Celestia replaced it with this Anniversary. She also declared that it be extended a full day and night, Celestia presented in the day, and Luna at night. That way, there will be no disputes. And perhaps you remember Nightmare Moon, right?"

"Of course, Mayor." Said Twilight.

"Well, it was because of the efforts of you and your friends that made this reunion, and thus the celebration, possible. Which means..."

The Mayor gave a wink.

"...You will be invited as our honored guests!"

"What?!" Twilight was a little intimidated by this. "You mean we're going to be presenting ourselves to everypony?

"Of course!" The mayor answered gleefully! "How would the anniversary be complete without you?"

"Whoa!" Twilight felt overwhelmed, what with the things they'd have to do. The mayor giggled and reassured, "Oh don't worry, Twilight. There's not gonna be a whole lot of work."

Twilight felt relieved, "Well this is rather nice of you, Mayor Mare. We'd be obliged to accept your offer."

"Excellent!" The mayor smiled, "I just thought I wanted to come and let you know. Now, how is the cake going? It's going to be for the Princesses, and perhaps for all Ponyville!"

"Umm..." Twilight felt nervous, knowing her clumsy incident with the apple spill, so she lied, "It's going great" as she gave a nervous smile, hoping the mayor will buy it.

"Good, I just wanted to ask. Now I must attend to my duties. I'll see you later, Twilight!" Mayor Mare went back the way she came. Twilight sighed in relief now that it was done and over.

"Okay," she started talking to herself, "Now it's over. We're just gonna head to the library and hopefully that phoenix doesn't burn it down."

So she hurriedly cantered her way there.


End file.
